Pilots on anti-depressants OK to fly: study

A new study says pilots on anti-depressants are no more likely to have an accident than other pilots.

Australia is one of the few Western countries which allows pilots who take anti-depressants to fly.

The study's lead researcher, Associate Professor James Ross, says nearly 1,000 pilots have been approved to fly while on the drugs.

"The important thing that we have found in this study is that there is no difference in the safety profile of pilots who have taken anti-depressants, compared to pilots who haven't needed anti-depressants," he said.

Associate Professor Ross says the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) introduced the policy in the 1980s because of the large number of pilots who potentially needed the drugs.

"While not allowing pilots to fly formally while on anti-depressants would just drive the whole thing underground and you would have potentially a large number of pilots either flying depressed and not taking medication when they needed it, or taking the medication and not having it properly managed," he said.